CD 25D winter/spring projects

[John #126]

I seem to have some leaks around the forward corners of the main hatch. Do I need to remove the fixed cover, then remove the sliding cover, then remove and rebed all the teak on the cabin roof around the opening, or can I just caulk the joint at the intersection of the cabin top and vertical teak pieces?

Second, I am planning to address the rat's nest of wires behind the electrical panel, by installing a couple bus bars and terminal strips. I have traced all the wires and found one large green wire (10 ga?) that is attached to the grounding plate, runs up to the space behind the panel, but is not attached to anything. Any ideas of what this is for and what it should be attached to?

John
#126

[tjr818]

John,
I am not sure how it si on the 25d, but on our 27 the sea hood was just screwed in place and it was not necessary to remove any teak. Rebedding with butyl tape fixed the leaks.

[Steve Laume]

The sea hood is pretty easy to deal with. First make sure you have a good temporary cover for the hatchway. Take out the two little rubber stops at the aft end of the sliding hatch track. This will let you slide the hatch right out and clean it up. This may just be soap and water but it is a great time to paint the underside. This would be the same treatment you will give the underside of the sea hood. It will be nasty under there. Once you have removed all the old sealant and cleaned everything up it is pretty simple to put it back together. I had Cetoled the teak at the same time so I sealed the edge with Life caulk and used the same to bed in the sea hood. You can wipe off the excess that squeezes out around the edges.

One other thing I did when cleaning and rebedding the sea hood was to add a four brass eye straps along the edges. I used one of the original fastener holes and drilled a new hole for the other leg. You will also want to use slightly longer screws to fasten them. These little eyes come in very handy for lashing things to the top of the sea hood. I used to keep my solar shower bag there but now it is the semi ridged solar panel. You could go to the hand rails but I hate to clutter up the rails with anything lashed to them, Steve.

[barfwinkle]

Good morning

I agree with the other posted that its not necessary to remove the teak. I have done so in the past and most likely will again this winter/spring just to sand "paint" it (the teak). However, its quite possible that the "joint" between the teak and the fiberglass is the source of the leak. Every 3 or 4 years I have to re-bed the area where the hatch slides as well as the vertical and horizontal portions of the companionway. I quit using the marine stuff some time ago and now just use a quality 25 year household caulk. Works just as good as the marine stuff and lasts just about as long.

The wiring is also on my todo list. Your green wire most likely is a PO thing. My boat was in original condition when I purchased her and there was/is no wiring running to the grounding plate. I would be interested in seeing/hearing any of your wiring upgrades. I'm considering moving the buss bars/terminal strips to a self made box and mounting them in the port locker. I haven't decided yet, but the rat's nest definitely needs to be addressed.

Fair Winds

[Gary H]

I would suggest using butyl tape on the companionway teak. I re-installed all my companionway teak with butyl tape last year. Too soon to tell but I am hoping for a longer lasting seal as it does not harden or crack. Apply some acetone to the teak prior to adhering the tape. I used 4200 when reinstalling my sea hood. Pretty straight forward job, other than being messy. Have lots of paper towels and a garbage bag handy.

[bhartley]

I have done this job on two 25Ds and am looking for the pictures... The first time took a day. The second took an hour. Knowledge is power. The seahood comes off. Assuming the teak slides are okay, only ONE needs to come off. Now you can remove the sliding hatch. Be prepared for a squallid mess underneath. I would recommend against hosing things down as you will then have to wait far longer for drying. Scrape up the mung with a paint scraper and then spray cleaner and paper towels should clean thing up nicely. The leaks (that cause the mess in the cabin) are along the outer edge of the opening (it should be clear once you're in). Scrape out the worn, leaky polysulfide and debris in the groove. Get things nice and clean. Acetone will clean and drive out the water BUT you need to make sure things are well protected below.

Once clean and dry, apply a very healthy bead of polysulfide along the trough you just reamed out. Use a finger or tool to smooth the filet into the seam so there are no air pockets that will let water back in in the future.

The seahood is easiest to reinstall with two people, but one works if you're coordiated. Insure that the mating pieces are clean and dry. Apply a healthy bead of polysulfide (I KNOW the seahood will be taken up again some day so I only use Polysulfide around the opening of the companionway under the seahood. DON"T put it on the seahood. Apply the bead so that the extra will squeeze to the OUTSIDE.

I use large nails to help line up the holes when I work alone. One corner of the leading edge (seahood held it only touches on the one corner) with a nail. Then the other forward corner pinned with a nail. Now when the seahood is lowered, the holes should like up. If necessary use two more nails in the aft corners. When you press down, you should see caulk up through the screw holes and out the edge. Try not to pull back up unless absolutely neccsary.

Replace all screws but don't tighten completely. Once you know all the screws are seated properly, you can tighten them down. Do NOT attempt to clean up the oozed polysulfide. Leave it for 2-3 days and once nice and set, use a putty knife to score the edge and up it comes nice and neat.

Dry as a bone down below.

Found the pictures! Not quite as illustrative as I had thought, but...

[tjr818]

Dry as a bone down below.

...but a nice PBR on deck to ease the pain. Good job.

[Steve Laume]

Nice description and photos, except for...

"Assuming the teak slides are okay, only ONE needs to come off. Now you can remove the sliding hatch."

You don't have to remove any of the teak to take out the sliding hatch. There are two little rubber bumpers inserted in the aft end of the track that keep the hatch from sliding too far back. They are held in place with little screws and once you remove them, the hatch slides right out. I have had mine out a few times since I re bedded the sea hood just to clean things up in there again, Steve.

[bhartley]

Steve,

Unfortunately atleast on the two 25Ds I worked on, the screws holding the rubber bumper in place are UNDER the teak.

Bly

[Steve Laume]

I couldn't figure out how the bumper came out at first as the screws were buried in the rubber. They are there and they do go into the track from the inside the companion way. You might need to do a little probing but you do not have to take any teak off to get to them. They go through the rubber, then the track and into the teak.

I doubt they did them any other way on different models, Steve.

[bhartley]

Promise. Complete covered. Done two of them.

[John #126]

Thanks to all for the information and suggestions, especially Bly's photos. The project seems simpler than I thought it would be (famous last words!)

Regarding the electrical issues, there are no buss bars, just bunches of wire held together with wire nuts or solder and electrical tape. I'll post photos of the before and after.

It's going to be a while--subzero wind chill on Lake Michigan today.

John

[bhartley]

Ooops! John, I didn't notice that you were the one asking the original questions. These were the pictures I took for YOU and never got around to writing up the instructions. I was feeling guilty when I put them here... Now I know I killed 2 birds with one stone. Now if only my engine were running. It was 76 degrees yesterday.

[swhfire21]

I just re-caulked and re-bed everything today to address leaks in the forward corners of the companion way on our CD 26. On the '85 version you'll need to pull up the teak slides as 1) the screws that secure the rubber stops are vertical and buried underneath the teak slide rails and 2) the forward edge of the sliding hatch will not clear the companionway trim if you leave the slides in place.

I initially "modified" the teak slide rails to get at the stops thinking I could just remove them to slide the hatch out (I did not want to pull the teak slide rails as I am a firm believer in, "if its not broke, don't fix it" and did not want to risk breaking the teak). What I did not realize until it was too late was that the shape of the coach roof changes over the travel of the sliding hatch. When the hatch is forward there appears to be plenty of clearance between it and the roof, but when you slide it back/closed there is barely any. As a result, the hatch could not be slid out by simply removing the rubber stops and I ended up removing the teak slide rails.

Our rubber stops were ripped up and the forward screws were bent. It took about 20 minutes of walking around our local ACE hardware, but I found a simple replacement for about $5. In the lawn care/power equipment area I found some short V-belts about the same width and thickness as the original stops. I simply cut the belts to length and drilled screw holes using one of the original stops as a template.

Overall, if you take your time I'd rate this a 3 out 10 on the difficulty scale (10 being a major pain in the butt). Its a big job, but fairly simple.

[frankfurder]

Just recaulked the gap between teak and fiberglass on my 25d companionway after the leak developed again. Tried to just patch the holes with boat life caulk but still leaked. Finally removed old dry caulk and recaulked per pixis instructions. Should be fine for a few years, but I am wondering abouththe butyl tape that one post referred to? Where to get it ?

Now if I can just repair the plywood cabin sole that deteriorated over time while I was trying to trace the leak.